1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device for providing access to a treatment site within the body of a patient, and more particularly, to a device for providing access to a treatment site within a branched vessel, such as a renal artery, deep within the vasculature to enable placement of an interventional device.
2. Background Information
In the medical arts, it is frequently desirable to deliver a medical interventional device, such as a stent, to a remote treatment site deep within the vasculature of a patient. In order to access such a remote site, it may be necessary to thread or otherwise insert one or more introducer and/or dilational devices through increasingly narrow, branched vessels before reaching the target site. The introducer device, such as a sheath, through which the medical interventional device is passed, is typically inserted percutaneously by well-known means. One common procedure is the Seldinger percutaneous access technique, wherein an introducer sheath is inserted over a previously-positioned wire guide. In many cases, the introducer sheath may have a pre-curved tip at the distal end and a hemostasis valve on the proximal end. Other well-known desirable features of an introducer sheath may include an atraumatic tip, torqueable construction, radiopaque markers and/or a lubricious coating.
Achieving access to a target site within the vasculature of the patient for delivery of an interventional device often does not cause undue difficulty for the medical professional. However, on other occasions access has proven to be problematic. Typically, such problems arise when the medical interventional device must be implanted at a remote site deep within the vasculature, often requiring access to one or more vessels that branch off from a major vessel at extreme angles. Other potential problems that may be encountered include imprecise control of the introducer device due to an insecure purchase of the sheath, as well as a difficulty in determining the location and position of one or more side branches, such as, for example, the renal arteries. In addition, sizing the affected vessels/lesions may be problematic.
It is desired to provide a device for providing access to remote target sites that overcomes the disadvantages encountered with conventional devices.